


Going To The Chapel (Gonna Get Married)

by dinolaur



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1577396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinolaur/pseuds/dinolaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony reflects on his relationship with Steve, all the twists and turns, and makes a decision. The universe is a little less on board with his spontaneity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going To The Chapel (Gonna Get Married)

Calling their relationship turbulent is a bit of an understatement.

They get off to a rocky start. Their personalities don’t mesh well. Steve, still so fresh out of the ice, is too serious and just reeks of moral superiority at every turn. He expects Tony to be too much like Howard, but that isn’t Tony’s style. Looking back, Tony knows he is a brat to Steve. He should be more respectful of Steve’s situation. He knows what it’s like to be taken from everything you know and have your entire world turned on its head. Tony knows his many faults, and among them are selfishness and being a bit unreasonable at times. He expects more from Steve than Steve is willing or even able to give, and Tony then chooses to be antagonistic.

Then Loki shows up, and they stop an alien invasion.

And they aren’t friends yet, but they have more respect for each other. They remember that each of them has been through a sort of hell and back. Tony realizes that Steve understands too well about losing men, and Steve sees that Tony is willing to make the big sacrifice.

They aren’t friends, but they are teammates. They save the world together.

But they aren’t friends. Tony doesn’t call Steve about the nightmares, and Steve doesn’t ask him to help with how out of place he feels. They don’t have too much in the way of contact until Steve shows up in New York with Natasha and VA counselor requesting help tracking down an AWOL HYDRA assassin.

Tony thinks Steve wants to be angry with him. He had put up a bug into the SHIELD computers. He had claimed he would know all their dirty secrets. But he missed HYDRA. He missed the Winter Solider. But Steve never throws any blame at Tony. Tony thinks he is just too tired for it, too tired and too determined to find his old friend.

Tony doesn’t go out with him like Sam and Natasha, but he helps. He offers up tracking tech, his satellites, and whatever other monitoring systems he can come up with. Because he lets himself think for one minute, what if this was him. What if it was Pepper or Rhodey. And he can’t say no.

Eventually, Steve finds Barnes and brings him home. There are more disasters, more times the Avengers are called to stand between the world and a threat. Tony offers up the Tower as a headquarters of sorts. He designs entire floors specifically for each team member. Steve says that it’s too much, but he says it with a fond sort of smile, and he uses the gym more than anyone else.

They see more of each other, both on the job Avenging or just around the tower. They talk, and Tony tries to tease Steve about how old he is and how scary he must find technology, and he gets a good laugh when Steve dismisses using Facebook because “it’s overrun with people over thirty.”

They become friends. Tony gets to know the man outside of old comics and bedtime stories from the nights his dad was actually out of the lab in time to tuck him in. Steve sees that Tony is more than a smart mouth and gigantic ego. They trust each other, almost more than they trust anyone else.

And then there is something else. Tony isn’t sure how it starts, outside of him definitely having a crush on the idea of Captain America when he was a kid. But it’s after he and Pepper decide to drop the romantic aspect of their relationship, and none of the people Natasha tries to set Steve up with ever last for very long. One day Tony just looks over at Steve, and it clicks. At the very least he wants to jump that kid’s bones. Probably mostly because he is very likely in love with him.

He gets the lectures from everyone. Barnes doesn’t even come close to subtlety with his threats, and Natasha stares him down with silent promises to make him wish he was never born if he fucks it up. Clint and Bruce just tell him to beware of Steve’s Russian bodyguards. Rhodey begs him to not defile a national treasure, and Pepper mutters something about compiling a list of Tony’s lesser known eccentricities for Steve’s benefit. Thor, bless his teddy bear soul, wishes him all the luck in his romantic endeavors and requests that they later drink to his successful coupling.

They aren’t a perfect couple. They love each other, maybe too much sometimes, and their different outlooks on life still don’t always mesh well. They fight a lot. Sometimes it’s Steve’s fault. More often it’s Tony’s. Sometimes they are both assholes of the highest order. And then of course there is the whole Registration mess that gets too far out of control. They don’t always agree, but this is too fundamental. As it all escalates, it feels like betrayal from the person they want to rely on the most. He thinks that must be why they fight so hard, are so willing to destroy each other and everything that gets between them.

Tony doesn’t know how they come back from it all. But Steve is back. He is alive, and he forgives Tony, even though Tony can sometimes barely stand the shame of everything.  

``

“I want to ask him to marry me,” Tony says.

Barnes doesn’t move for a long moment, during which Tony stands tense and ready to run and scream for JARVIS to initiate _Program: I Don’t Want To Die Like Apollo Creed_. He just watches Tony with that steady and calculating gaze he uses when he is locked onto a target and waiting for the right moment to strike.

This is probably not Tony’s smartest move.

He is about two seconds from darting when Barnes says, “Are you asking for permission?”

“No,” Tony says, because Steve isn’t a possession, and no one, not even Barnes, could ever stop him from doing what he wants to do. Tony has learned that lesson the hard way over the years.

“So why the fuck are you telling me,” Barnes asks. “And you’re not even dating anymore.”

That comment stings a little more than it should. No, they aren’t dating anymore. They barely made it out of the Registration mess with their lives. Their relationship had been part of the extensive collateral damage. But they are back to a better place, maybe not the place they were before it, but Tony still loves Steve. And he knows that Steve loves him. The actual logistics are just a little bit fuzzy at the moment.

“No, we aren’t,” Tony says carefully. “But I still want to ask him.” He draws in a deep breath, straightening his spine and squaring his shoulders. This is actually going to be the hardest part of all this. “And I would like your help.”

Both of Barnes’s brows shoot up towards his hairline. Tony maintains his look of determination. This is embarrassing. He and Barnes have never gotten along. At all. Barnes had nearly killed him after Steve was shot, and it was only Natasha’s interference that had saved Tony’s life. They are openly antagonistic with each other, and they have only the barest of things in common. Namely, being Avengers and Steve.

“Are you shitting me right now,” Barnes asks, finally standing up. He is taller than Tony, not by too much, but that plus the metal arm that he crosses over his chest very purposefully, well, it’s all a little bit intimidating when his nearest suit of armor is ten floors down. It’s intimidating and so horrifically embarrassing to have to ask this of Barnes of all people, but it’s Barnes who knows Steve the best, even more than Tony, and Tony is will to go through this for Steve.

“I’ve fucked up a lot of things in my life, including this,” Tony admits, and Barnes’s face darkens. “But I don’t want to do that again. We went through all that shit, and we still—I still—look.” He wants to pull at his hair. He had a speech for this. He has been practicing it for weeks.

“I know you don’t like me and would never approve of me,” Tony starts.

“Damn straight,” Barnes agrees.

Tony glares. “But I love him. And he loves me. And I can’t promise to be perfect or that we’ll have some Disney fairytale happily ever after, but it’s never going to be like that again. I can’t—I won’t be careless with him like that. I can’t lose him again. I’ll die first.”

“You aren’t good enough for him,” Barnes says.

“I know,” Tony answers. He doesn’t come anywhere close to measuring up to what Steve deserves.

“But, to be fair, I suppose, no one is,” Barnes answers. “And he does like you, for whatever reason.”

Tony’s brain immediately supplies about seven different comments on the quality of his blowjob skills, but he keeps them to himself. This is about as close to approval as he is ever going to get from Barnes. Best to just take it silently.

“So, you want my help,” Barnes asks with a little smirk. Tony regrets this already. “And what exactly was it about ex-Cold War super assassin that screamed romantic event coordinator to you?”

“Shut up,” Tony grumbles. “You know him. What would he want?”

“If you have to ask that, should you really be thinking about proposing,” Barnes sneers.

“Shut up,” Tony whines again. “I mean, yeah, day to day, Steve likes simple things. He likes dinners at home and going to see movies at little theaters and walking around the same art museum for the ten thousandth time. But this is a fucking proposal, you know? Aren’t you supposed to pull out all the stops for that?”

“All your stops might actually send him into cardiac arrest because there’s too much blood in his face due to embarrassment to support the rest of his body,” Barnes says.

“See,” Tony cries, running a hand through his hair. “Where’s the line? I don’t fucking know. And I can’t ask Pepper. We used to date. You can’t ask your ex how to propose to another person.”

“I was unaware you two had limits.”

“Shut up.” He really needs a new comeback here. “I can totally respect boundaries.” Barnes rolls his eyes. “Can you not? Can you just respect the fact that I lowered myself enough to come in here and ask for your opinions?”

“No, I enjoy this too much,” Barnes says. “And Steve says I should focus on things I enjoy more often.”

“You’re an ass.”

“Old people are allowed to be.”

``

Alone they don’t get much done until Natasha walks into a brain storming session. They stop talking immediately, hovered over one of the computer screen tabletops, and just stare at her like maybe if they don’t move she won’t see them. She blinks once, twice, three times and says simply, “Explain.”

Barnes blurts it all out, and Tony cries, “So much for uncrackable!”

“Are you suggesting lying to her,” Barnes asks, and Tony pales at the look Natasha gives him.

Natasha reviews what they have come up with so far and makes a face at Barnes. His face goes red, and he mutters something in Russian. She pats his hand and completely rehauls all of their notes.

Two days later Tony has reservations for two at some tiny and ancient family-owned place down in Brooklyn that is still open for good reason. The reviews online are great, and Barnes gives it a thumbs up from experience. “You know, assuming Palomo’s grandkids haven’t fucked it up,” he adds.

It takes Tony all day to work up the courage to actually ask Steve out. He feels like a teenager, which makes him feel a million times worse because even as a teenager he hadn’t been this awkward. Butterflies hammer against the insides of his stomach as he tries to appear casual and laidback, like none of this is a big deal. It’s a huge deal. It’s the biggest deal. Even Pepper—the person by whom Tony judges all others—hadn’t been this big of a deal.

Steve sees it. Tony can tell by the soft, little smile he wears when he accepts the invitation and the way he doesn’t laugh or tease him when Tony practically trips all over himself making his exit.

The next day he drags Barnes and Natasha out to a jewelry store to buy a ring—because, holy shit, he almost forgot, and he can’t use any of the old family rings. Barnes spends the entire trip either grumbling that “yeah, it’s fine, Stark. Steve likes you, so he’d like that” or watching Natasha with an unreadable—but still totally transparent—look as she aimlessly browses the displays.

He shows the ring, just a simple silver band, to Rhodey and Pepper that night. Rhodey complains that he didn’t get to go ring shopping, and Pepper gives him that little smile that says she is proud of his emotional maturity. Neither of them tries to talk him out of proposing before they start dating again. They get where he is coming from on this.

``

The morning of the date, Tony lays awake in bed as his alarm goes off. He had tried, really tried, to get a full night’s sleep, but he had just laid awake a nervous wreck. Why had he made this a lunch reservation? Who does that? He thought maybe so they could have the whole afternoon free if Steve says yes or plenty of time to get a head start on his backup plan of moving to the middle of nowhere mountain range in India probably where he will never be heard from again if Steve says no. But it’s stupid. Dinner is way more romantic. He stares at the clock, wondering if anyone is already at the restaurant for him to call.

Is it out of line to have JARVIS look up the family’s home phone number and call them?

Eventually he drags himself into the kitchen for coffee. Steve is already there, as he is most mornings. He has obviously already gone for his morning run, and his hair is still wet with sweat, cheeks pink, and shirt stretched far too tight over his chest. He is gorgeous, and actual plans forgotten, Tony opens his mouth.

“Did you sleep any last night,” Steve asks before Tony can say anything. It throws him off, and he just blinks at Steve, who offers him a fond but still slightly disapproving smile. “Here,” he hands him a mug of coffee. “You really need to stop doing that. It’s bad for you.”

“I have trained my body to require very little sleep,” Tony mutters into the mug.

Steve laughs and gets started on making a large breakfast. The others slowly filter in. Clint sits in the middle of the bar with an extremely crowded face until Bruce takes pity and brings him an entire pot of coffee and a plate of bacon. Bruce eats most of it while Clint slowly blinks the sleep away. “So what’s everyone doing today,” he asks around a large yawn. He waves his phone. “Kate wants to do a Mario Kart marathon.”

“Why do you ever agree to that,” Bruce asks. “You always throw a tantrum when Cap kicks your ass.”

“Ok, one, Cap does not kick my ass—shut up, Barnes—and two, need I bring up your problem with Duck Hunter,” Clint snarks. Bruce just hums calmly.

“Tony and I are going to lunch later,” Steve answers, putting away dishes. He cooked so he shouldn’t be the one cleaning, but he hates leaving them out and dirty.

It’s gossip, so Clint snaps to wide awake. His eyes gleam madly, and he crows, “Oh, ho ho! Just the two of you?”

Tony can feel his face spasming. He doesn’t dare to look over at Steve. Yeah, when Tony asked a couple of days ago he didn’t exactly use the word date, and he knows Steve knew what he was actually asking. But they haven’t talked about it in that context yet, and he is already nervous enough without Clint’s interference.

Suddenly, the strangest thing happens. Natasha does something nice for him. She stands up, walks over to Clint, and grabs him in a chokehold. She then drags him out of the kitchen, ignoring his squawking protests. Steve turns a sort of alarmed expression to Barnes, who just shrugs in a manner that says, “You wanna know, go ask her yourself.”

Tony makes a mental note to buy her a huge box of those fancy chocolates she likes. Sure, Clint is going to know about his plans, but Natasha, if she is going to bodily remove him from possibly making too revealing a conversation, will keep him silent.

Of course that doesn’t stop Bruce from following him out of the kitchen later and asking, “So what was up with that?”

Really? He can’t muster up the patience and compassion to listen to Tony spill his life’s story for five minutes because he’s “not that kind of doctor,” but he can stick his nose into this? Well, no more cookies for him or the Hulk.

But hell, if Clint is being clued in, then Tony should probably confide in Bruce too. Man only saved his life twice in the span of twenty seconds during the whole Chitauri thing. Also, science bros. “You’ve thought it through,” Bruce asks. Because Bruce is meticulous and scheduled and organized. He leaves his spontaneous brashness to the Hulk.

“Yeah,” Tony answers, although it sounds almost like a question. He certainly has thought a lot about this. Thinking it all the way through, though? Maybe a little less.

But Bruce just smiles and claps him on the shoulder. “Good luck. We’re all rooting for you crazy kids.”

``

It’s about an hour before their reservation when Pepper calls him with a company emergency. _“I know, I know,”_ she apologizes. _“And you know if I knew anyone else could handle this, I would never have called you today, but this is all you.”_

And Tony curses to himself all the way to the labs. He should have known better than this. He usually knows better than this. Can’t trust anyone else with his tech until it reaches a certain stage. It’s not a difficult problem to fix, but it is time consuming, and he is a mess when he calls Steve to tell him that he is going to be late.

 _“It’s all right, Tony,”_ Steve says soothingly. _“I understand. Of course you need to fix this. I don’t mind waiting.”_

Tony could cry. Steve is too perfect.

By the time he has the machines and energy signatures back down to stable levels, Tony is nearly two hours late. He is also sweaty and has two obvious grease stains on his shirt, but there is no time to shower and change. He runs down to the garage and hops in a car. He grumbles at the clock and calls for JARVIS to pick him the fastest route.

About halfway there he realizes he left his jacket back at the office. His jacket with the ring in it. He slams his forehead into the steering wheel twice. Well, what’s one more person in the know?

A few minutes later, Sam swoops down and flies alongside the car. “You’re proposing,” he yells over the wind and traffic.

“That’s an invasion of privacy,” Tony snaps, snatching the jacket from him. He digs in the pocket. The box is safely tucked inside.

“How could I not,” Sam says with a grin. He flashes Tony two thumbs up. “Go get him, lover boy!” And he soars off.

Tony screeches to a stop in what is probably a no parking zone. He doesn’t check to see. He just rushes inside, tugging on his jacket and trying to salvage his hair. Steve waves at him from a little table in the back. Tony stumbles into the chair and over his words as he tries to apologize again. “You’re fine, Tony,” Steve says, dropping one of his sketchpads and a pencil back into a bag at his feet.

Tony motions for the waitress to bring him a glass of wine and gulps it down with two big sips. Which he regrets immediately when Steve arches his brows at him. “Sorry,” he mutters again. “Got a little worked up.”

Steve’s answering smile is patient. “So what exactly was the emergency,” he asks. “Must have been pretty big if you had to go in immediately.”

Steve is giving him an opportunity to work off some nervous steam by ranting about incompetence, but Tony doesn’t want to do that. This date, this huge, monumental date, has already started off crappily enough. He doesn’t need to add to that with whining and complaining.

So he waves it off and changes the subject. They just chat for a while, and despite all his nervousness, Tony still feels that deep-seated sense of calm and just plain happiness that Steve provides him. He doesn’t think. He just reaches across the table and takes Steve’s hand. Steve cuts off mid word and smiles back at him, just as dopily as the one Tony feels stretching across his own face.

“Steve, I—“

Something large and solid crashes through the front window. The force of it throws them from their chairs. Dust fills the air so thick they almost choke, and Steve jumps up in a flash, yelling for Tony.

“I’m ok,” Tony says, kicking the table off him. “What the hell was that?”

 _“Hey, guys,”_ Clint’s voice drawls from their communicators. _“Sorry to interrupt but we have giant rampaging robots out here.”_

Tony looks up at Steve with an exasperated expression. Steve shrugs and says, “Duty calls.” Then he pulls out his shield from his bag and runs out into the street, leaving Tony to deal with the civilians until his armor reaches him.

As it turns out, it’s Doom-Bots, and that just really pisses Tony off. Because really? Today of all days? The only thing that could possibly have made this more irritating would be if this was some crazy scheme of Hammer’s.

The fight and clean up take the entire afternoon. The added insult to all of this of course being that Doom walks away scot free like he always does. Tony hates diplomatic immunity. It’s the dumbest thing he has ever heard of in his life. He is personally going to the UN, to the Security Council, to whoever else might even have a say in that, and he is going to be the biggest pain in their asses until they get rid of that stupid, stupid loophole.

``

The sun is setting, and the view from his landing platform on the tower is fantastic. The sky blazes clear and pink, all the smoke from the fires having finally gone out within the past hour. It’s a beautiful sight, but Tony doesn’t much appreciate it. He just sits there, hunched over with his chin on his palms, and sulks like a five-year-old.

This day did not go as planned. Everything was wrong from the get-go. Maybe that’s a sign. Maybe that is just the universe’s way of telling him that this is a bad idea, that he is just going to fuck it all up all over again, and it’s better to just nip this entire thing in the bud. He and Steve, just not meant to be. Romantic relationships aren’t in his deck of cards. He should just stick to the way he handled it all in the old days, mostly anonymous sex. Nothing to screw up there. Nothing to hurt.

Steve finds him as the buildings begin to light up against the darkening sky. “All right,” he asks, sitting beside him.

“Yeah,” Tony answers.

“Not exactly according to plan, huh,” he adds with a chuckle, and Tony’s heart feels heavy.

“Not exactly,” he echoes. He really doesn’t want to relive this incredible failure of a day.

“I could have done with less dinosaur robots, myself,” Steve continues, and he sounds just far too cheerful for Tony’s abysmal mood. “Oh, come on, Tony,” Steve says, elbowing him in his side when he doesn’t respond. “You still have plenty of time.”

“Time for what,” Tony asks.

“Well, lunch got interrupted, but the view up here is great.” Tony blinks, not entirely sure how those two things coincide. Steve smiles fondly and reaches into Tony’s jacket pocket. Tony freezes as Steve pulls out the small velvet box. “So things weren’t perfect earlier,” he says. “But we can still end today on a good note.”

Tony doesn’t even have to think about it. “Barton,” he hisses, and Steve throws his head back and laughs.

“You weren’t much better,” he says, still chuckling. “And to be fair, he didn’t actually say anything. But everyone I asked if you were all right today, because you looked like you were about to jump out of your skin all morning, they were all pretty evasive. And Bucky couldn’t lie to me to save his mother’s life.”

Stupid Russians. Always putting out shoddy work.

“So,” Steve starts, waving the box under Tony’s nose. “I think you had something you wanted to ask me.”

“You are such a smartass,” Tony says, snatching the box back.

“Yet you love me,” Steve replies.

“Yeah, I do,” Tony returns, curling his hand around Steve’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss.


End file.
